


A Third Option

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Conflicted Kylo Ren, Dogfight - Freeform, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Past Torture, Pilot Kylo Ren, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Protective Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24114097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Kylo and Poe briefly reunite during a dogfight.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren
Kudos: 9
Collections: Gen Prompt Bingo Round 18





	A Third Option

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Virtue and Vice
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The battle over Savareen is already chaotic, and Kylo doesn’t hesitate in terms of shooting down pilots, in terms of shooting down anyone in his way. His two wingmen fight back before having to retreat; apparently, no one wants a repeat of when General Organa was blasted into space.   
  
Kylo can remember that moment all too well. When he felt the explosion, felt her presence wavering for a moment even as he knew, just knew, she still lived.   
  
And it’s in the Force, sensing Poe’s presence, that he knows he has to likely sacrifice Poe...like he nearly sacrificed his mother.   
  
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he can hear Snoke laughing.   
  
There’s a moment, just a moment, when Kylo feels his thumb hovering over the button on his TIE Fighter’s trigger. Can he do this, he wonders. Can he really fire on his childhood friend, the man he loves, still? Rey and Poe occupy two different chambers of his heart. Rey is the strange kinship that he doesn’t know whether or not to be grateful for. Poe is the past — Poe is someone he loves with all his heart. A tie to the past.  
  
 _Let the past die,_ he once said to Rey. And it’s still true. Dear stars it’s still true. Being loved by Ben Solo once is a death sentence. It means that you’re still guaranteed to hurt. And Poe — he hadn’t wanted to torture Poe. He had anyway — and afterwards, he’d wanted to vomit.   
  
It’s been months since the Finalizer. Can he pull the trigger? Can he do this?  
  
In the end, he hesitates. And then he takes his finger off the button. It nearly gets him blasted by the traitor in an X-wing, and then the girl, and he has to retreat — it’s not cowardice, it’s pragmatism — but in the end, Kylo Ren has no intention of hurting Poe thrice.


End file.
